Bartholomew Flannery

Bartholomew Flannery

Article by Alan Trout

Bartholomew Flannery, or Bart, as he was more popularly known, rode 13 winners, enjoying his greatest success in the 1908 Welsh Grand National. He took part in four races over the Liverpool fences, finishing second in one of them.

He had his first win on The General in the Hambledon Steeplechase at Portsmouth Park on March 4, 1903, beating Polack, the mount of future Grand National-winning jockey Arthur Bitch, by a neck. The latter had ridden The General the day before when he won the Langstone Hurdle at the same course. Now, trying fences for the first time and with a new jockey on board, The General triumphed again. Bart rode him twice more that season without success. 

Almost a year passed before Bart rode another winner, and this summed up his career; the occasional success but mostly finishing down the field.

In 1904 he rode in three races over the Liverpool fences. On March 24, his mount Cheiro was a faller in the Stanley Chase, in which of the ten starters only Glenmore, ridden by Fred Freemantle, completed the course, and even he had to be remounted after a fall. Two days later, Bart got round safely when Kolian finished second in the Altcar Four-Year-Old Chase, beaten three-quarters of a length by H.B., the mount of Elisha Ward. Bart tried again on Kolian when they tackled the Valentine Chase on November 11, but this time his partner refused. 

Bart’s best score for a year was four in 1907. He rode just one winner in 1908, but it was to be the biggest victory of his career. He had won a race on Captain R.H. Fowler’s Razorbill at Leicester the previous November but had not ridden the five-year-old in any of his first seven outings of the year. Trained by J.J. Maher at Winchester, Razorbill won the Welsh Grand National at Cardiff, beating leading amateur Walter Bulteel on Rex by three lengths. 

The South Wales daily news reported that year’s Welsh Grand National “was not a great race,” adding that although the winner was only a five-year-old, he was said to have owed his success to a blunder by Rex at the water jump. Moreover, the favourite, The Leek, owned by Prince Hartzfeldt, flattered only to deceive at two miles. 

Razorbill would go on to become the first horse to win the Welsh Grand National twice when he triumphed in the 1911 version, ridden on that occasion by Ivor Anthony.

If Bart thought his Welsh National victory would mark a turning point in his career, he was sadly mistaken. He rode Razorbill on his next outing when they finished second at Ludlow, but was then replaced, and he relinquished his licence after another season. 

However, he did return just before the War, and his last four wins were achieved on the hurdler Doctor Ryan, culminating in victory by 12 lengths in the Slough Double Handicap Hurdle at Hawthorn Hill on December 14, 1916.

Doctor Ryan had been sent over fences in 1915 with no joy. Having fallen twice with Alf Newey up, Bart was given another chance to win over the Liverpool fences on him in the Stanley Chase on March 25, but the six-year-old fell again and reverted to hurdles the following year with better results for all concerned.

Bart Flannery’s final ride was on Lilford, who fell in the Nil Desperandum Handicap Chase at Windsor on March 17, 1917.

Bartholomew Flannery’s winners were, in chronological order:

1. The General, Portsmouth Park, March 4, 1903

2. Rover II, Warwick, February 24, 1904

3. Burnham, Hereford, April 4, 1904

4. Sprig Of Nobility, Hooton Park, November 2, 1906

5. Howth, Derby, March 13, 1907

6. Chaperon, Dumfriesshire Hunt, April 9, 1907

7. Wacouta, Portsmouth Park, November 22, 1907

8. Razorbill, Leicester, November 27, 1907

9. Razorbill, Cardiff, April 21, 1908

10. Doctor Ryan, Ludlow, February 19, 1914

11. Doctor Ryan, Southwell, March 21, 1914

12. Doctor Ryan, Hawthorn Hill, February 12, 1916

13. Doctor Ryan, Hawthorn Hill, December 14, 1916